Waiting for Godot

There is now no doubt that not only is Waiting for Godot the outstanding play of the 20th century, but it is also Samuel Beckett's masterpiece. Yet it is both a popular text to be studied at school and an enigma. The scene is a country road. There is a solitary tree. It is evening. Two tramp-like figures, Vladimir and Estragon, exchange words. Pull off boots. Munch a root vegetable. Two other curious characters enter. And a boy. Time passes. It is all strange yet familiar.

The Chekhov Collection (The Seagull, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard) - Audible Classic Theatre: An Audible Original Drama

This collection of three of Anton Chekhov's most well-known and important plays is voiced by a sparkling cast and features music, SFX and a full soundscape. The Seagull was written in 1895 and is a masterclass in the art and power of subtext, Three Sisters tells the tale of three sisters who find it very hard to live in a drab Russian provincial town after the death of their father, and The Cherry Orchard speaks of a widowed landowner who returns home more or less insolvent after five years abroad.

Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts: Theatre Classics

Controversy and hidden pasts are suddenly and painfully exposed as wealthy widow Mrs Alving prepares to open a new orphanage in memory of her husband. Her treasured son Oswald’s return from Paris and her relationship with old friend Pastor Manders are no longer the source of joy they once were, as secrets are turned into a frightening and desperate reality.

To the Lighthouse

To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf's arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde's enduring masterpiece, this fable of innocence and corruption, purity and decay has become a true classic. The beautiful, narcissistic Dorian Gray, torn between the influence of cynical hedonist Lord Henry Wotton and tortured artist Basil Hallward, sells the beauty of his soul in exchange for external perfection. Ultimately, he cannot escape the disfigurement of sin. Wilde's remarkable wit and memorable, epigrammatic lines dazzle in audiobook form!

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby's lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love....

The Age of Innocence

Countess Ellen Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society. She bears with her an independence and an awareness of life which stirs the educated sensitivity of the charming Newland Archer, engaged to be married to her cousin, May Welland. Though he accepts the society's standards and rules he is acutely aware of their limitations. He knows May will assure him a conventional future but Ellen, scandalously separated from her husband, forces Archer to question his values and beliefs.

Alias Grace

Sixteen years have passed since Grace was locked up, at the age of 16, for the cold-blooded murders of her employer and his housekeeper/lover. Her alleged accomplice in the crimes, James McDermot, paid the extreme sentence of the law and was hanged on November 21, 1843. But some thought Grace was innocent, and her sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment. After a spell in the Lunatic Asylum she now claims to have no memory of the murders.

The Bell Jar

Read by the critically acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. When Esther Greenwood wins an internship at a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.

An Inspector Calls (Classic Radio Theatre)

The Birling family are spending a happy evening celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft - a marriage that will result in the merging of two successful local businesses. Yet, just when everything seems to be going so well, they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl.

The Handmaid's Tale

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed . If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs....

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a coming-out novel from Winterson, the acclaimed author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. The narrator, Jeanette, cuts her teeth on the knowledge that she is one of God's elect, but as this budding evangelical comes of age and comes to terms with her preference for her own sex, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household crumbles.

Hamlet: The Arkangel Shakespeare

Distressed by his father's death and his mother's over-hasty remarriage, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is faced by a specter from beyond the grave bearing a grim message of murder and revenge. The young prince is driven to the edge of madness by his struggle to understand the situation he finds himself in and to do his duty. Many others, including Hamlet's beloved, the innocent Ophelia, are swept up in his tragedy.

The Kite Runner

Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

Jane Eyre

Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.

The Descent of Man

Grayson Perry has been thinking about masculinity - what it is, how it operates, why little boys are thought to be made of slugs and snails - since he was a boy. Now, in this funny and necessary book, he turns round to look at men with a clear eye and ask, what sort of men would make the world a better place for everyone? What would happen if we rethought the old, outdated macho version of manhood and embraced a different idea of what makes a man?

The Oscar Wilde Collection

Four classic comedies from one of the wittiest playwrights in Western literature: Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, all featuring star-studded casts with the likes of Jacqueline Bisset, Miriam Margolyes, James Marsters, Alfred Molina, Roger Rees, Yeardley Smith, Eric Stoltz, and many more. Also includes a chilling dramatization of Wilde’s sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Publisher's Summary

A new recording of Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece, starring Calista Flockhart. Nora Helmer has everything a young housewife could want: beautiful children, an adoring husband, and a bright future. But when a carelessly buried secret rises from the past, Nora’s well-calibrated domestic ideal starts to crumble. Ibsen’s play is as fresh today as it was when it first stormed the stages of 19th-century Europe.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Calista Flockhart as Nora Helmer; Tony Abatemarco as Dr. Rank; Tim Dekay as Torvald Helmer; Jeannie Elias as Anne-Marie and Helene; Gregory Itzin as Nils Krogstad; Jobeth Williams as Mrs. Linde. Translated by Rolf Fjelde. Directed by Rosalind Ayres. Recorded before a live audience at the James Bridges Theater at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

No. The couple are as superficial as each other. He is (amoung other things) a control freak, she is a kept woman obsessed with beauty and money. Realization dawns and she leaves. The story ends without addressing child custody, where she would go and what on earth she will do.

Would you recommend A Doll House (Dramatized) to your friends? Why or why not?

No. I didn't mind it, but not sure who would want to hear the play. You are excluded from a little bit of humour relying on sound effects. The door slamming could have been a gun-shot from as he commits suicide. You don't know if the children where with her or left behind, from what you pick up, the later probably.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

N/A

Did A Doll House (Dramatized) inspire you to do anything?

No, but I would try more dramatized audios.

Any additional comments?

From an entertainment point of view and at the price the audio was enjoyable. The cast sound like they put on a good show.

Awesome story, favorite part, Nora's self realization that she has never thought for herself.

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

Gretchen SLP

Sacramento, California

10/12/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Extraordinarily High Quality Theatre 🎭"

These L.A. Theatre Works productions are some of the best deals on Audible. For just a couple or few bucks, the listener is treated to what amounts to an evening of supremely high quality theatre. That's invaluable to anyone who is not able to see plays nearly as often as one might wish. I had never seen A Doll's House (translated here as A Doll House), never seen the arc of liberation of Torvald's "little chipmunk" (translated here as "little squirrel"), so this production was a real treat and I'm sure I will listen again. To anyone unfamiliar with Ibsen, this play shocked 19th century Europe with its stunning early feminist themes of male oppression and women's liberation. The whole cast is excellent here, and Calista Flockhart so convincing in the role of Nora that it's easy to see why Nora's door slam at the close of the play was said to "reverberate across the roof of the world."

Grade: A. Bechdel test: Pass.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Dorothy

23/02/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"had to read this for school"

but boy I am so glad I did because this is literally the best thing ever. their performance is seriously amazing.

19 of 22 people found this review helpful

Calliope

Toronto, ON, Canada

02/05/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"A classic, but new to me"

This was a new story to me - I had not seen nor read the play before. I was shocked by the resolution because it seemed so atypical for even the late 19th century -- in fact, I have read since that it was quite a controversial ending and Ibsen was forced to change it for performances in Germany.

In a nutshell, this is a story about a paternalistic and overbearing husband and his secretive and child-like wife; to him, he has a dollhouse of perfect little toys to play with, but to her, she has a gilded cage full of superficial pleasantries but no freedom. The resolution is unexpected for 1879, even though today's reader might think it appropriate.

The production was good, even though I'm not a Calista Flockhart fan, but the children sounded like Munchkins - which is odd, because this is a live production and I'm sure they were really children in the roles. Tim Dekay and Gregory Itzin were wonderful.

23 of 28 people found this review helpful

Adam

28/02/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Good performance, beware of text variations"

This was an excellent performance, but the recording does not match the text of the play in my book. This is a problem because I'm a teacher and would have liked to use the recording to support instruction in class.

17 of 21 people found this review helpful

Jayne

CARMICHAEL, CA, United States

15/03/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Very Interesting!"

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I listened to this because it is one of my granddaughter's favorite. I can't say it is one of mine but my granddaughter thought it was thought provoking. She is 17 years of age.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end brings it all together!

Any additional comments?

The morality of the characters was intriguing. The end of the book reveals the actual plot and is a complete surprise….I totally love that my granddaughter got it. She realized the deeper meaning of consequences for all behavior. The protagonist' character flaws are artfully presented through the writings in "A Doll House."

13 of 16 people found this review helpful

Louisiana

United States

11/09/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Classic!"

What made the experience of listening to A Doll House (Dramatized) the most enjoyable?

Great performance of a classic. I've heard about it for years but never seen the play. Betty Friedan references it in The Feminine Mystique, so that reminded me to get A Doll House. I'm so glad I did. It's not just for feminists, so don't let that idea fool you. It's just good.

13 of 16 people found this review helpful

Wayne

Matthews, NC

31/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Unwilling to be her father's or her husband's doll"

Ibsen denied that he was entering the fight for equal rights for women when he wrote A Doll House, but whether or not intended that is exactly what his play does. And it does so with great force and effect.

I first saw the play in London approximately 25 years ago. I liked it then and I like it now. Nora had literally lived her life for her father and then for her husband with no thoughts of her own needs; she has been their doll. When she comes to that realization, the reality that she is a person in her own right, Torvald is too set in his own views of marriage that he fails to see that it should be a true partnership. So he forces Nora to leave so she can live her life rather than living exclusively to meet his needs. My wife and I celebrated the 47th anniversary of our marriage partnership yesterday. Ibsen's drama deserves some credit for making such marriages more common.

The performance is quite good, but Calista Flockhart's Nora character was much better performed than the other parts.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

J.B.

Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

30/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Magnificent"

A Doll's House, Written by: Henrik Ibsen. The audible purchase is a taped performance.

Self-centered people. Materialistically bent. Desires for the esteem of others, willing to be hypocritical within, expecting no one else will ever see. Men treating women as if they were toys for playing with, women being play things but not one with their husbands, neither considering that is ownership not partnership. Then the tragedy of it all.

In a few simple scenes all this is developed through simply two hours of human interaction on a stage. Yet a plot that grows in complexity, is unexpected and thought provoking.

Is it entertaining; does it demonstrate the better way for love, marriage and friendship? All I can say is: magnificent.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Karen L.

31/03/16

Overall

"Ibsen's plays are always multidimensional with a strain of myth."

The code of courtly love was evidently still alive in 1879, but needed eradicated. Ibsen must silence all its proponents--for the good of society, both men and women.

The beautiful damsel--who would look good and graceful (even in cheap clothes), especially to her star-dazed lover--must dance and sing, preferably a lively folk dance (tarantella) and a pastoral ditty with a troubadour's instrument (tambourine). And, her lover (lovers, including the doctor) must be willing to foolishly sacrifice himself, either by languishing away for want of her love (the doctor) or otherwise obliterating himself so that his beloved might live. Both of our main characters demonstrate that the code of courtly love is well engrained in their minds.

What's next? Circumvent the law? No, not that law, but the laws of courtly love. How appropriate that the lawyer shows us the way to transition from an outmoded patriarchal, pastoral society to a modern world of The State, the new world view so analyzed by 19th Century intellectuals. Ibsen is never just about individual characters, but always deep in multiple layers, and anthropologists of his day were hot on the trail of the myths that pervade our lives. For all drama for many decades following Ibsen, I always look for this underlying strain of myth, more prominent in drama than perhaps any other literary genre.

Most prominent among these anthropologists was Sir James Frazer, whose first publication in 1890 of The Golden Bough rocked the literary world more than any other book of its time--and was quoted more in my professors' lectures on drama. Audible has a copy of the 1894 edition for $10.95. The sample narration sounds great.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

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